I'm sure many of you have seen or read the raving reviews about these palettes one too many times before but just in case you are not familiar of Sleek Makeup, it is a UK based cosmetics brand very well-known for their high quality eyeshadow palettes. And with their wallet friendly prices, it goes without saying that this is a dream come true for makeup junkies who are on a budget, hence why they are so popular. Sleek offers a total of nine iDivine palettes consisting of a variety of twelve beautiful mineral based eyeshadows in each palette, ranging from neutrals to bright shades. I currently own three of their palettes - The Original, Storm and Sunset. As these are Sleek's older palettes, the eyeshadows have waffle patterns to them (I know weird!) and there are no individual names for the eyeshadows. But these are just a couple of minor details that I can easily ignore.
Storm was the first Sleek palette I've ever owned and from the get-go, I was totally sold on these bad boys. Definitely a winner in my books. I purchased it over a year ago now and to this day, this palette still ranks as one of my top favourite makeup products.
The top row has all neutral shades, perfect for daytime looks. Bottom row has all darker shades which can be used to add depth and intensity to your looks for that dramatic smokey effect. I love shades #8, #9 and #10 the most and my least favourite out of the bunch is shade #12 which is the matte black. It's not a dud but I find it quite sheer, patchy and not as opaque as the others. Shade #2 is perfect for highlight although for some, it may be too shimmery. I personally don't mind using this to highlight my brow bone if I'm not wearing any other shimmery eyeshadows on my eyes.
This palette has a mix of warm and cool tones, with three of the twelve shades that are mattes - #3, #11 and #12. And the rest are all metallics with shimmers. Reminds me a great deal of the world famous, NAKED palette. As you can tell by the swatches below, they are not exactly dupes but in terms of wearability you get the picture. Although I must say, shade #8 comes close to being a great dupe for Gunmetal and shade #3 for Naked.
Just to give you guys an idea of how nice it looks on, the photo below shows myself wearing a night time smokey look with shade #10 on my lids, #11 on the outer corners and #3 on my crease.
The Original palette on the other hand has all shimmery/glittery eyeshadows except for one which is the matte black. For some reason, Sleek consistently includes this eyeshadow in every single one of their iDivine palettes. Some of you may think it's 'blahh boring' and a waste of space but to me it's no biggie. I think black should be a staple eyeshadow in every palette anyways, although I do think that the pigmentation can be improved. Just saying.
So from the top left we have - black, cool toned lilac purple, deep navy blue, aqua blue, turquoise which leans towards more on the green side, light forest green
Bottom left - cool toned pale yellow with glitters, pale purple/pink and gold duochrome, pale nude champagne pink, dark bronzey copper, golden brown, olive green with gold flash
I found that all of these eyeshadows swatched so smoothly with the exception of the black one, yet again. I'd say this palette is more versatile across the board because it has a combination of basic neutrals and pale colours, brights, super vivid and darker shades. My faves would have to be shades #8 and #12, I love the gold flash duochrome in them. Very unique and makes the colours extra special.
Sunset is a real treat and once again another richly pigmented eyeshadow palette from Sleek. It consists of browns, russets, and of course it won't live up to it's name "sunset" without the bright orange, yellow and sky blue eyeshadows.
With the exception of the usual matte black, all of the colours in this pan has a metallic sheen to them, I don't think there is a great deal of shimmers in this pan at all. I absolutely adore shade #2, the rich red fall leaf colour. I think this colour is so unique which you don't generally find in palettes from any makeup brands. I love combining it with shades #3, #5, #8 and #9 to create a beautiful autumn inspired look. In fact, I featured this palette in my last post. If you'd like to check it out, click on the link here.
My least favourite from this palette would have to be shade #6, the sky blue colour. It almost has the same pigmentation as the black, quite sheer and not as blendable as the other eyeshadows.
Packaging in all palettes are the same. It comes in a high quality sturdy but lightweight black casing which embodies the brand's name for its 'sleek' appearance. Looks very classy and is very compact which makes it portable and very easy to travel with. Inside, it comes with a generous-sized good quality mirror and a foam applicator (which I never use).
Each palette retails for $19.95 AU from Crush Cosmetics. And for 12 eyeshadows in a palette, each eyeshadow works out to be just over $1.60 which is crazy cheap for the amazing colour pay off you get. And in saying that, Sleek palettes totally give high end eyeshadow brands a real run for their money.
*Side Note: Crush Cosmetics is a great online cosmetics website here in Australia. I've dealt with them so many times before and I've always had great shopping experience with them each time I visited online or made a purchase over the phone. To those of you who may be interested in the Sleek palettes, feel free to check out their website, they also offer international shipping to those who live outside Australia.*
So in a nutshell, I think Sleek palettes contain eyeshadows that are not only incredibly gorgeous, ultra pigmented but are also very affordable. In my opinion, the overall quality of these palettes is almost on par with Mac, Urban Decay and Inglot eyeshadows. Blends easily and has great colour pay off. The only negative point I can really say about it is the texture. The eyeshadows are uber soft which tend to crumble a fair bit. Handle it with care as you do not want to drop it! I find it most annoying with my Storm palette, I think out of the three palettes I own, this one has the softest texture and just by moving it around in my makeup storage, little specks of eyeshadows go all over inside the palette which is not so pleasant to look at.
Overall Score: I'd give it a 4.5/5 stars.
Please note that I do not make biased reviews, what I share with you all is purely based on my personal experience and if I do not like something I'm most certainly not going to sugarcoat my honest opinions about the products I've tried or used.
If you own or have tried any of the Sleek palettes, please do share your thoughts and opinions about them. I would love to know.
